Formative Assessment: Looking beyond the techniques Dr Jeremy Hodgen Kings College London

Improving (mathematics) education through feedback and formative assessment Attainment, progression and standards over time Teacher education International comparisons Primary and secondary

What are you already doing about formative assessment? Talk to your neighbour. Identify one issue or problem.

What is formative assessment: a working definition Any assessment directed at informing learning – What do you need to do next?

TEACHING LEARNING

If you want to increase your success rate, double your failure rate. (Tom Watson)

The evidence … Origins: Bloom (1970s) Black & Wiliam: Inside the Black Box (1998) etc Numerous other reviews worldwide – Natriello (1987); Crooks (1988); Kluger & DeNisi (1996); Nyquist (2003) All find consistent & substantial effects on … – Attainment and engagement – BUT poorly described in practice.

More evidence … Hatties (2007) meta-analysis: – Feedback is the most effective intervention in education (effect size: 1.14) Wiliam (2007): – Assessment for learning probably the most cost effective way of improving teaching – Better and more achievable than reducing class size or enhancing teachers subject knowledge

Extraordinarily successful … Inside the Black Box: > 50,000 copies sold (UK) Working Inside the Black Box: > 40,000 Mathematics Inside the Black Box: > 7,000 Embraced by DCSF / DfES, National Strategies Taken up by schools Hard to find a teacher who hasnt heard of it

What people say: debunking some myths and misconceptions Dont students need marks?

The effect of marks & feedback GainAttitude Marks onlyNoneTop Bottom Comments onlyAll Comments & MarksNoneTop Bottom

The effect of marks & feedback GainAttitude Marks onlyNoneTop Bottom Comments onlyAll Comments & MarksNoneTop Bottom

Marks and Comments

What people say: debunking some myths and misconceptions Dont students need marks? Whats new? Good teachers already do this anyway? I already ask lots of questions

Listening to students answers Evaluative – Teachers know the answer – Listening for the correct answer – Often give clues: Almost … … Nearly … Interpretive – Teachers dont know how students will answer – Why do they say that?

When Miss used to ask a question, she used to be interested in the right answer. Now shes interested in what we think.

What people say: debunking some myths and misconceptions Dont students need marks? Whats new? Good teachers already do this anyway? I already ask lots of questions If only I had the time … Our students couldnt do that. Its just a set of tricks.

Looking more closely : Five principles Clarifying, understanding, and sharing learning intentions Engineering effective classroom discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learning Providing feedback that moves learners forward Activating students as learning resources for one another Activating students as owners of their own learning

Looking more closely : Five principles Clarifying, understanding, and sharing learning intentions Engineering effective classroom discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learning Providing feedback that moves learners forward Activating students as learning resources for one another Activating students as owners of their own learning

Looking more closely : Five principles Clarifying, understanding, and sharing learning intentions Engineering effective classroom discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learning Providing feedback that moves learners forward Activating students as learning resources for one another Activating students as owners of their own learning

Looking more closely : Five principles Clarifying, understanding, and sharing learning intentions Engineering effective classroom discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learning Providing feedback that moves learners forward Activating students as learning resources for one another Activating students as owners of their own learning

Looking more closely : Five principles Clarifying, understanding, and sharing learning intentions Engineering effective classroom discussions, tasks and activities that elicit evidence of learning Providing feedback that moves learners forward Activating students as learning resources for one another Activating students as owners of their own learning

Some broadbrush strategies Rich tasks Sharing learning intentions Questioning and dialogue Marking and Feedback Peer and self-assessment Using summative tests formatively

Sharing learning intentions Today we are learning … to use capital letters and full stops How could you share this learning intention with students? … scientific method … English grammar … Physical Education / Sport …

Improving classroom dialogue Some examples from UK classrooms

Improving classroom dialogue The power of wait time – Increasing the range of students who answer – Increasing the quality of answers More WRONG / partially correct, longer explanations Asking better questions – Highly context dependent Saying less and listening more

Marking and feedback Two ideas: – There are 5 mistakes here. Find and fix them. – You seem to be confused about … Talk to Eeva about how to work out the difference. Have you got some more ideas that might work?

Peer and self-assessment The learning paradox Its good to talk The value of being wrong

Using summative tests formatively Use to expand students conceptions of learning …

He was not a very careful person as a mathematician. He made a lot of mistakes but he made mistakes in a good direction … I tried to imitate him but I found out that it is very difficult to make good mistakes. (Goro Shimura)

Start NOW Doing something is better than doing nothing – Try something & evaluate whether it works Assess before or during teaching: dont teach student what they already know Teachers dont have to do it all

Moving forward Keep it simple Work with others Give and ask for feedback Mistakes are useful: Getting it wrong can be helpful